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Saturday, October 15, 2011

The valuable gold Rolex watch of our first President, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, will soon be auctioned at Sothby’s in Geneva. It is pathetic that this has not made more than a passing news item in papers.

We all know that antique items have their own value and charm which attracts a lot of art curators and aficionados across the globe. But in this case, more startling is the fact that this watch was reported stolen in 1963 from Dr. Prasad’s Museum in Patna. The Indian government as usual is too busy to even investigate how a memorabilia item reached up to Sothby’s in the first place, let alone to make efforts to bring it back to India. Although the legal heirs of Dr Prasad are doing all what they can but Indian government is sick as usual. Is this the way we honour the people who sacrificed so much of their lives for us?

What makes the watch extremely valuable is not that it is of Rolex brand or it has a map of India made on its dial but that it was presented to Dr. Prasad on the first Republic Day.

Some time back, Mahatma Gandhi’s spectacles were also stolen from Sabarmati Ashram. The Indian government must be ashamed on its inability to preserve memorabilia of people who laid their lives for the country.